UNION VALE, N.Y. -- The Rev. Al Sharpton says U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney should publicly apologize for hunting at a gun club that displays the Confederate flag.

Cheney hunted Monday at the exclusive Clove Valley Rod & Gun Club in Union Vale, N.Y., where a 5-foot Confederate flag visibly hangs in an open-doored garage attached to the club headquarters, the New York Post reported Tuesday.

A spokesman for the vice president said Cheney never saw the flag, but Sharpton said he still should have known better.

"It's appalling for the VP to be at a private club displaying the flag of lynching, hate and murder," Sharpton said.

Cheney was accompanied by an ambulance and an entourage of 15 sport utility vehicles carrying security and staff, the New York Daily News reported. The six-hour hunt was uneventful, unlike last year when Cheney shot a friend in the face in Texas. The man survived.

Still, some Clove Mountain residents criticized Cheney for hunting farm-bred pheasants released at the club just the day before, making them easy targets, the Daily News said.